“I don’t like this race, period. Black and poor only gives displeasure”: After pageant, black models victims of racist comments on social network

Note from BW of Brazil: As we’ve seen in numerous previous posts, the internet and particularly social networks are havens for people to vent their racist views. While most would prefer to hide behind the “somos todos iguais” (we are all equal) rhetoric that seeks to maintain Brazil’s long held ‘racial democracy’ myth, such blatant displays of prejudice completely undermine the farse. It’s as if black Brazilians don’t have the right to be seen or see themselves as beautiful. This is yet another example of why integrated societies under systems of white supremacy are doomed for failure. It’s for this reason that we wish to see more Afro-Brazilian-oriented organizations, projects, black aesthetic contests, cultural performances and, yes, media. Oppressed groups can never attain respect and equality under such systems in which one group is defined and accepted as superior than others. Is this such a difficult concept to grasp?

Man confesses racism against model after contest, say police

Courtesy of Panorama

After winning beauty contest, 19-year old Tainara de Jesus Santos was victim of racist commentary

A 47 year old man admitted in testimony to the Civil Police, that he made racist comments about the model and also gas station attendant Tainara de Jesus Santos, 19, after she won a beauty contest in Jataí in southwest Goiás. Two other persons were identified suspected of committing the same crime, but have not yet been located. The offending posts were made on a social network.

Tainara de Jesus Santos

The police chief responsible for the case, Caio Pereira, explained that the man called the young woman “macaca” (monkey) in a message. The investigator explained that there is already enough evidence to charge the suspects for crime of injúria racial (racial injury/slur), which establishes a penalty of up to three years in prison.

“The declarations were made by the people themselves, and immediately others took copies of these manifestations by cellular. So, it becomes very difficult for the person to deny authorship,” he said.

The investigation is still in progress and the police chief seeks to locate others suspects.

Offenses

The offenses were made in mobile messaging application after the first parade of the young woman. After the event, the photos of the model with the winning sash were released on social networks, when the racist postings started. In one, a person says, “I don’t like this race, period. Black and poor only gives displeasure.”

Tainara said that she was very shaken up by the content of messages. “I have no words to defend myself, I don’t have anything to say. I get angry because it has no logic. If it was someone who had told me, I wouldn’t have believed it,” she declared.

Model Jeferson Henrique Santos was also victimized by racist commentary

Another model that participated in the contest as a guest was also a victim of racist comments. “I’m embarrassed to go out in the street, of people associating my image with a macaco (monkey), I keep remembering. It’s complicated, because everywhere we go there will be a person to stop and ask,” said Jeferson Henrique Santos.